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Everything posted by Abyss

  1. I think this is a good way to release it. Ronan is clearly WAY (WAY) above the curve; it's definitely a challenge set for the kind of people who think the game is too easy. And so I think it's fine not taking up a slot in a standard release, where the game is targeted at a more casual level (that's not an insult, I'm definitely in that category). If they keep doing this, they can then collect them in a 'challenge pack' PoD expansion once they've got a half dozen or so sets. Or if they do 'Return to' style expansions from Arkham (I think LOTR had something similar as well), they can include it when they redo Guardians.
  2. The Sparr isn't a gold modifer; that's specifically cards with the gold symbol and a + or -. Without going through the entire FAQ, I'd say they end up with two gold, though that's mostly based on it being more 'fair'. Both Blockade and The Sparr modify the same thing; assuming that a plot can't have a negative value, they'll end up with 0 gold on the their plot regardless. They will then get +3 for their locations, and -1 for your attachment. However as mentioned that's based on an assumption that your plot can't have a 'hidden' modifier from The Sparr that leaves their plot at -1 gold before they take into account their gold modifiers. A quick look through the rules/FAQ and I didn't see anything to confirm either way, so it could go either way; it might be worth going through the FAQ to see whether there is anything specific about how modifiers work if you are really looking for an answer.
  3. Essentially it's just a large amount of extra cards for deck building based on each faction (plus some cards for the other factions, that usually somewhat counter the main faction). However if you are looking for ideas, I believe each of the deluxe boxes comes with two deck lists that can be built from the Deluxe box + one core set.
  4. First player's choice (Rules reference page 16, under 'Priority of simultaneous resolution'. There are some weird interactions with Tears of Lys, because 'Until end of phase' effects expire before 'at the end of the phase' (yes, this is stupid). But in this case they both have the same wording/trigger 'at the end of the phase', so the first player would get to choose the order of resolution.
  5. Yeah, villain pack definitely looks like it could be Kang. HE tends to have more of a pronounced crest so I think he's less likely. I think Quicksilver is likely for November due to the little bit of hair on the silhouette which Quicksilver usually has, and the likelihood that December is Wanda. The other two honestly don't really have enough to narrow them down.
  6. Came in to say this. Slightly different as it's a TCG, but VS System basically did this by allowing you to discard a copy of a character (by name, so could be different versions) to 'power up' a character with a +1/+1 for an attack. Allow you to discard an ally that matches another hero for a decent effect (I like the ready, though may be too powerful). It can still feel like a special interaction without having to add new cards or anything.
  7. I don't think there is anything to suggest they've lost the licence. However, the game is mostly finished. After the Targ box, the are changing to a ad hoc pack distribution; however the previewed cards were 1st Edition (and earlier?) cards repurposed into 2nd Edition, right down to reused art. As such, I think the game is done for most players.
  8. I do think it makes it unlikely that we'll see Loki as a villain any time soon. Which isn't necessarily a *huge* issue - while I would like to have seen a Loki villain, I'd be pretty keen for Hela or Surtur as well. And realistically, they might even make better villains, considering they've both got easy minions to go with them. Granted, it's not like it's difficult to give Loki some minions if they want, but Surtur leading the Fire Giants to Ragnarok or the heroes fighting undead hordes in Hel would feel more thematic. But much like I don't think allies rule out those characters being heroes, I don't think a character being a nemesis rules out them being a villain. I just don't think FFG will do it straight away - I think they'll hold off for a cycle or two.
  9. I'd be extremely surprised if the first box *isn't* Guardians/Cosmic. It just makes sense to do it now; the characters/franchise are unlikely to become more popular in the future unless GOTG 3 is amazing, and I imagine they'll start phasing them out of the MCU (or at least some of the characters). It's also obviously a good time to cash in on Thanos.
  10. Sorry, yes. Using that specific image on both the card and the box, and then having GR as the only hero in the picture excluded from the first cycle would be weird.
  11. That's actually the art that is on the back of the box. But yeah, having 3 Core Heroes + 2 pack Heroes + Random Ghost Rider would be really, really weird.
  12. They changed her original costume because well, it essentially has an arrow pointing directly to her crotch. Which is fair enough (looks like the newer version of it changes the shape of the midsection to remove this). At the same time, the period of Marvel's history you're describing was not particularly well liked by a lot of people, and I'm pretty sure that the Spider-Woman series you're describing was part of that. So I can understand FFG maybe not rushing to cater specifically to it. We did get Carol and have Kamala coming, so they're not completely ignoring it; it just feels like they are used the most recognisable version of Jessica. Also, I'm sure I'm not the only one who didn't associate her Ally card's power with her pheromones. I just took it as more of a 'distract the enemy' ability which should 100% be in the wheelhouse for any Spider character (I find it really, really weird that SPIDER-MAN is one of the worst heroes at dealing with threat and doesn't have anything representing his quips...a card to Confuse the enemy would have made sense, though I guess there's limits on space).
  13. Luke is fine, but not being able to Attack/Thwart without using up his Toughness makes me like him a lot less. You're likely spending a significant amount of your turn (or all of it) solely for a blocker. And unless you get 3 blocks out out of Luke, Mockingbird likely has much the same effect for one resource cheaper. I'd agree he's likely better than Vision because Vision is honestly pretty bad outside of his synergy with the Leadership package (i.e. Get Ready). I feel like most of the higher cost allies are probably overall too expensive, and I think it's likely they'll get replaced pretty quickly unless they do something beyond their stats (e.g. Hawkeye). People seem to talk up Black Panther's Retaliation, and I'm not sure why. Is it a nice extra? Sure. But 1 damage pings when villains have 30+ HP pools per player? And you still get the Retaliate damage if you don't defend it, it just means you've got to spend a turn recovering in Alter-Ego mode instead which will net you more health recovery than defending blocks, and lets you trigger AE cards for two turns (though obviously, not always an option you can take, particularly in solo). Could you explain what you mean about the Counterpunch/Indomitable combo opening up your next turn? It seems that the advantages of it are being up 2-3 health, having dealt 1-3 points of damage, and being down a card in hand. While that's nice, it doesn't seem to justify the use over any other aspect. Also, one thing I should point out - I'm not questioning the validity of Protection as an aspect - I think there's room to run heroes who focus on defending their team. But I think the *current* card pool for the Aspect is significantly underpowered. Thankfully the previewed cards for Cap/Ms. Marvel look like they'll improve the Aspect - Expert Defense and Cap with his shield straight away make it a more viable option.
  14. Aggression is fine, but it's basically just 'Does your hero need extra single target damage?' It's only got one real utility card with Chase Them Down, and Tigra is a solid minion killer. It'll probably get better as we get other heroes who have the other bases covered but want increased damage output. Justice is somewhat similar to Aggression in that it's a patch for handling threat, but handling threat is generally harder for most heroes than hitting things so it's comparatively better than Aggression. I think the Core Set Justice cards will probably actually drop off pretty hard except For Justice!, once we get better ways to handle threat through other cards. Leadership is very solid. Get Ready and Make the Call will probably be staples for the length of the game. The allies are all solid, and can cover a little bit of everything. It's biggest weakness is that it seems like it's shaping up to be the 'expensive' Aspect, so will probably only be viable for heroes with better economy. Protection is garbage. Defending is an inherent disadvantage - It doesn't progress a win, limits your options in your turn, screws you on obligations, and REC being better than DEF often makes going Alter-Ego a potentially better option. So having a defensive Aspect is already at a disadvantage, but then they also got weak cards. Black Widow has way too many negatives, Luke is 'fine' as a blocker but expensive just to soak attacks. Counter-Punch is 'fine' but just a bit of extra damage that requires you to defend. Get Behind Me! really should have been free if it's going to force you to take an extra attack that you likely won't be defending (because you presumably already defended). Med Team is okay due to how allies take damage for acting. The Vest and Indomitable are about the only cards that I'd consider decent at this stage. The main advantage I guess is that you can skip Widow and it's the cheapest Aspect? So, I'd say: Leadership is #1 overall, being good now and the cards likely continuing to be good in the future. . Justice is #2, but it's due to the need for threat management more than the quality of the cards. Aggression is #3, but it's due to most Core heroes already having enough direct damage in their kits. Protection is a solidly #4, and desperately needs the upcoming packs to get it up to speed.
  15. I feel like it's a bit hard to define the Justice aspect compared to others in terms of theme (it's pretty obvious mechanically). We know how they've implemented it in the Core Set, but we don't know how they'll use it going forward. IMO Thor *could* be Justice, but I'll agree he's likely Aggression. Ghost Rider is speculated to possibly be the last hero, due to him being on the back of the box and he makes sense for Justice.
  16. Honestly, the real issue is that they called it 'Alter Ego', which gives the impression of being about a hero/'civilian' identity split. And then made all the characters in the Core fit that impression. If they had have called it something else to indicate that it's just a 'non combat' role, it would have been fine.
  17. I guess it depends on what exactly 'Justice' represents. To me I'm looking at it as the 'moral' aspect- heroism, self sacrifice, nobility, that kind of thing. Which absolutely fits Thor, though I'll concede that tends to be more his solo comics rather than him being on the Avengers. Mostly, I'd just like to see Marvel play up that aspect of Thor's character more in general. But I can see the interpretation of Justice being the more 'intelligence' based aspect. I guess we'll just have to see where they end up going with it. Yeah, he has a secret identity as a construction worker during Simonson's run. A bit different as it was just Thor 'Clark Kent-ing' instead of the deal with Don Blake.
  18. Ghost Rider is actually on the back, alongside Cap and Thor plus the core heroes except Spidey (I think this is the current/recent Avengers roster?) While it's not a guarantee, it does seem likely that he's the last Hero for the cycle. It would also fit with him being Justice and Thor being Aggression (Well, they could flip that, but it seems likely they'll go for the 'Thor is a dumb brute' option...)
  19. Comics wise, the Wrecking Crew are basically a bunch of thugs who got Asgardian level powers due to a magic crowbar (Yes, really). They're pretty much the textbook definition of mooks. Anyway, gameplay wise I'm kind of expecting they might just replace Villain 1/Villain 2 with the various members of the Wrecking Crew, so four smaller dudes. It's probably the least ambitious take, but it's still early in the games lifespan so they might not be going too crazy just yet. Then again, GG breaks the mold a bit as well, so maybe they're coming out of the gates full force. In that case, they could be a full four member team. I'd expect their deck to have a lot of 'If such and such is in play'. This is where them being a full team would shine, as it would let you make more some more strategic decisions about who to go after.
  20. Yes, economy alone would be the main issue. There's a bit, but not really enough. Other than that, you'd basically be making a deck that's 'random Night's Watch dudes'. So you'd basically just look at a making a cost curve, and filling out icons. Throw in some of the other NW cards to fill out the rest of the deck and it would be playable. I wouldn't expect it to do well against any 'serious' deck though.
  21. Hulk is an ally. There is 0% chance that Ally characters never become Heroes, because if they did we'd be seeing random D-List jobbers or only civilians as allies. I mean, there's plenty of other characters that prove it as well like DD or Hawkeye, but there's no way in **** we get She-Hulk and no Hulk.
  22. The basic structure of play is fairly basic. You can take two actions on your turn, and most of them are pretty simple (Move, buy, heal etc). Then you do various types of encounters that usually involve rolling dice to test skills. The overall goal is to achieve certain 'quests' to eventually win the game. However, there are a *lot* of different types of cards (FFG hates trees) and expansions compound this issue significantly. This means there's a lot of complexity; tons of different types of cards to cover different situations E.g. there are 'condition' cards that are essentially status effects such as being different types of being injured, different types of going crazy, different types of being arrested etc. With all the expansions there are dozens of different types. While these are generally simple enough to resolve - read the card and do what it says - it can be pretty overwhelming, and I imagine is not to everyone's tastes.
  23. Guardians has proven this doesn't matter. The MCU is self sustaining; if they can get you to care about a talking raccoon they can get you to care about any character if they are in a good movie. Ultimately, the MCU is likely to keep being successful as long as Marvel keeps on managing it well. The announced Marvel projects all seem to fit into the scope of maintaining the MCU while avoiding 'superhero fatigue'; branching out into new genres and formats, not trying to escalate IW/Endgame (yet), focusing on different characters and giving them a chance to develop. Could it suddenly drop out from underneath them? Sure, it *could* happen. But I think it's unlikely at this stage.
  24. This is my main issue with Outer Rim - that it's a simple race to ten, without any real 'end game'. I do think I'd prefer the game if you had to actually achieve something major to win your last fame, but at this stage it's just how the game is. 'Buying furniture' isn't really any worse than hitting a random patrol from a faction you've been friendly with all game.
  25. Yes, currently the game is story light - the Core box does have an obvious 'campaign path' (Rhino->Klaw->Ultron) but there's no real mechanical storytelling from what I understand. I think the the Campaign boxes will just be a pretty simple 'Villain X is doing bad things, stop them! Villain Y was the real villain all along! But now Villain X is back!' kind of storytelling, like 'Here's the most generic X-Men story ever'. The alternative might be setting up specific major storylines, but that seems pretty difficult within the limits of the card pool.
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